Another life taken
Another family ripped apart
Another heart shattered
Another tweet posted

“Praying for you”
“I am devastated by this tragedy”
“You are in our thoughts and prayers”

Hundreds of thousands of tweets like this
Hundreds of thousands of people aware
That another life has gone
Another family grieving
The politicians
The president
The police officers

People keep demanding change
The tragedy dominating headlines
Our leaders’ false assurances of change
That change will happen
That this country will be safer

But eventually the voices dissolve
And headlines focused on my city are replaced with something else
The politicians shift their eyes on another matter
And we are just written down in history
As another tragedy
And people move on
And forget about us
Forget about our pain
Forget that we are still hurting
Still grieving
Still reeling from this loss

The people who tweeted about thoughts and prayers -
Where are they now?
The people who promised change -
What change?
They are gone and everything is the same
Because they only used us to gain attention
To show the world that they cared
And that they were good people
No you aren’t good people
Because good people don’t lie
And give us false hope

We are the ones who bear the weights on our back
Knowing that we are still here standing
While so many of our friends are gone
Six feet under and never able to return home
We are the ones who witnessed the tragedy
The ones who saw the ends of lives
And the marks that cut the rope
We are the ones who need to fight back
Because no one else will do it for us

We are young people, but so much more
You seem to label us as that and only that
As if we can never amount to much
“Oh they’re just young people”
You’re dismissing us for ignorant
Self-absorbed
Yes, we’re young people
But we are doing more than you ever will do
We are fighting back
Because we know you aren’t going to do anything
You say that we’re entitled
Stupid
Too consumed with social media
Forever glued to our phones
But you - look at you
You’re selfish
Dishonest
A murder - yes, you
You became a murderer the moment you saw our suffering
And turned a blind eye
And pretended nothing was happening
While you traded each of our lives for a hundred dollar bill
That’s how much we’re worth to you, isn’t that right?
You held a knife in your left hand as you were shaking my right
Covering my wounds with your false words of promise

The very people who were supposed to keep us safe
Trade our safety for wealth
How is it
That one life is worth less than money?
How is it
That you can trade an innocent life
For power? For money?
Why? Why would you do that?
Do you have no shame? No guilt?
Do you even care about us
The very people you swore to protect
When you entered office
When you entered duty?
Or is it just a game to you
A game of truth and lie
A game of gambles and danger
You escaping each time
Unscathed and more powerful than the last
Leaving a trail of blood and tears and pain behind you
Not caring about the aftermath

Stop killing us
Stop treating us as if we are just collateral
We are not
We are human, with sinews and muscle and bone
We have a life, just like you
Yours is no more more important than mine
Merely because you are more widely known than I am
That means nothing
Because unlike you
I would never exploit anyone for my personal gain
And lie when confronted
About the money I receive
From gambling people’s lives

One life is worth more than all the guns on earth
Just one
One life, one child
Just one
That alone is worth more than all the guns on earth
So please
Let us live
Live up to the expectation of a protector of America
Be the bigger person
And save us
We are all worth it
Maybe you don’t understand it
Not just yet
But you will, one day
When you realize that it could be you next
Or your son or daughter
And the reality strikes fear into your heart
Just as it did for so many of us
That life is so fragile and it can so easily be snuffed out
With just a twitch in your index finger
And you truly, truly realize
That a life - just a single life - is worth more than all the wealth in the world